


Down the Rabbit Hole

by Foxmiscellania



Category: gen:LOCK (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Cammie is a bamf, Other, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-23
Updated: 2019-08-22
Packaged: 2020-09-24 11:33:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20357791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Foxmiscellania/pseuds/Foxmiscellania
Summary: Cammie has lost everyone so when the Union, in their hubris, make a time travel portal and she's got the chance to use it. Of course she's going to use it! Cammie goes back almost twenty years and starts from the beginning.Gen:Lock is going to get a better start this time around. She's going to make sure of it.





	1. Down we go

Cameron had no plan. She really didn’t when she found the time portal, other than she needed to destroy it. The union could be using it to send reinforcements to the past or to give them the technological upper hand. But also...

What if? She could go back?

What if she could prevent Chase’s corruption, Yaz’s sacrifice, Valentina leaving, Kazu crashing. All of the pain and suffering they’d been through. She'd never gotten the chance to even bury her old friends. Now she was going to make it right.  


She hadn’t planned anything, beyond grabbing her body and Caliban. Now she was just outside New York, It was just her and Caliban and the quiet of a peaceful night. 

“They’re not gonna get us again.”  


~~~

Cammie gives herself a couple months to set up, investing what little money she has into the tech giants of her time and iIt pays off and after a month of hiding her Holon in random parks she finally gets herself a house. She then goes through blending old tech with new. 

She then gears up for the most awkward talk of her young life. 

Finding Chase’ family is actually easy, barging in, convincing Mr. Chase(Aaron) that if he wants to see Drianna get born(They just decided on the name how does this random stranger know it?) Then they should both sit down, call in sick, and let her tell them how she’s gonna help them save their lives and that of their children. 

That part is a little harder than she’d imagined. 

“So-” Roberta Chase rubbed her slowly growing belly, their second child less than three months away. “You want to build a giant robot, put my baby in it, and have him fight in this war that won’t happen for years and years, why?”

“I- I don’t know if we can change anything sooner, I want to try but I also wanted to just be prepared. If the union wins...” Cameron bites down on her lip, She’d laid it all out. The war, Julian’s involvement, gen:Lock  _ everything _ . Including the house in their name just waiting for them with plenty of room for more if they wanted. 

Roberta’s husband hummed, “Well the Union is already a nuisance when it comes to local politics. Remember when they tried to sell the force on those ridiculous guns?”

Roberta nods, they’d more or less blown up in their faces when attempted, and only when they were staunch polity supporters. The demonstrator had forgotten that fact and been arrested for attempting to kill officers of the law. 

The Union government had denied ever knowing the man but it wasn’t hard to put two plus two together. They hadn’t been that good at denying it. 

“So?”

They look at each other, Cameron’s not entirely sure she understands how couples do it, and she also totally understands.. She used to share looks like that with the team.

“Okay.”

“Of course! I’m not saying we shove Chase into this asap. There’s a lot of work I have to make it safer-” Cameron stumbles over her words and then stops and stares.

“We said yes, we want to help.” Roberta corrected and Cameron jerked out of her temporary blue screen moment to smile. 

“But you want to do it?”

“I don’t like the Union already, and the fact they’re winning in your… timeline. Is frustrating enough, we want in but-” Roberta nods and Cameron high fives Caliban who’d been playing her personal projector. She turns to Roberta and Aaron Chase and they nod. 

  
“We want to help, not just cheer our baby on from the sidelines. Say those investment opportunities you talked about?” Aaron begins

They move into the new house as soon as they can, Julian is ecstatic because he gets his own room. Also robots, he’s just discovered Robo-Shogun and he and Cameron become quick friends over their saturday morning Robo-shogun watch. 

Months later Drianna is born and Cameron watches Chase for Roberta and Aaron who are both there. She remembers a day when Drianna and her mom come home but dad never does. It’s permanently branded into Chase’s brain, and the part of Cameron’s brain that’s still a piece of him. She subtly implies Aaron should take paternity leave and he does; if only to make the slightly twitchy future girl relax of course. (Later when he hears about what happened while he was on leave he’s relieved. He had an idea what happens but it is so much worse when you realize that in another timeline  _ that is how you die _ .)

During Drianna’s birth, while Roberta is recovering in the hospital and Aaron won’t leave her side. Cameron takes care of Julian; she’s on her way home from one of their smaller investments. An Ice cream place that Cameron remembers fondly, it survives the war only due to the fact most Union officers have a sweet tooth. 

She has some food for Julian, the shop owner tutting over Cameron’s inability to cook. When she stops, a hand glancing past her hip and her pocket feels lighter. She shoved her hand into her pocket to find her wallet actually missing and turns seeing her pickpocket with bright red hair turn the corner. 

“Oi!” She chases after the red-head who’s got her wallet. She turns around the corner careful of her food when he trips. “Gimme back my wallet!”

She runs up and a boy, not that much older than Chase tries to hit her as she grabs her wallet from her thief. “Leave Roman alone!” he beats on her hips and the other boy, Roman scrambles to his feet. 

“Why- Stop that!” she snapped at the kid and the older one bursts forward grabbing the kid and pulling him back.

“Leon stop! I told you to stay hidden!”

Leon- “August?” she asks and the older boy stiffens, pulling the little Leon closer.

“No! Wait I - want supper?” She asks hopelessly holding up the bag of food. Both boys blink at the change in tone and stare at her incredulously. 

  
  


Julian sighs when she brings them home. But they sit and eat dinner and Cameron explains. 

~~~~

Roberta and Aaron take the knowledge that Roman and Leon are in on the ‘plan’ and now living inside their garage with a sigh. They bring Drianna home and Aaron nearly does cry when Roman explains he knows how to cook and is over 18 years old. Cameron is great but her culinary experience and child raising experience begins and ends with grilled cheese.

They don’t particularly like his choice of employment, besides being a pickpocket, Roman is an enterprising young mastermind thief with a side business in smuggling. But they can’t complain as he targets mainly Union targets and their supporters. He’s actually really good, him and his partner Neo, but even then he slips into prison a few times. He comes out gleefully with more intel on the Union and doesn’t have to worry about losing his brother to the foster system.

They established Cameron as Leon’s legal guardian even if she’s not great at raising kids. Still it works out in their favour as Roman’s the one who procures the warehouse where Cameron builds their Holons. 

Roman’s building a network of smugglers in the day they’ll need to smuggle refugees out of the cities. He’s becoming a criminal mastermind and nothing Aaron and Roberta say will stop him. He gets a kick out of talking about his ‘alleged’ exploits to the kids while Roberta and Aaron pretend they aren’t mentally facepalming or hitting their heads against the wall. 

Time goes on, their calendar is measured in years not days. 

Chase and Leon join the Polity. Cameron emphasizes they don’t have to go into the military; but they’re dead set. Chase has wanted to fly planes since his dad told him he used to fly them before he became a cop. Leon sees a mark 1 strider in the news and falls in love. 

All the while Chase and Leon get along like two cats.They are either best friends, or eternal rivals. No one is sure why this is the case for years until Roman realizes what’s going on. He grins and makes a bet with Cameron about what will make them stop acting like assholes to each other. 

Both boys are 14 when Cameron finally has two holons both tested by her and ready for them to go into. They’re rather bare bones, only bodies but Cameron didn’t want them overwhelmed. They’re already going to be 4 stories tall, no need to add wings or extra bits. 

Cameron wins the bet. 

Honestly if neither of them had been diehards for their jets and striders the boys probably would have dropped out to be full time holon pilots.

“THIS IS SO COOL!” Chase and Leon start to babble at each other and then they’re thick as thieves. It’s not the first time they upload to Cameron’s updated Holon designs and never the last. 

Time continues to pass, they become the best of the best, enlisting and breaking records from the beginning. Both end up in Anvil and when they see each other they it takes them both a double take before they introduce their teams to each other.

It’s how Julian meets Miranda. Something Leon only regrets a little bit because they tend to have sex in the room he shares with his team. (He actually regrets it alot, if only because Jodie is pining and Miranda and Julian are stupidly in love. He’s so grateful he and his boyfriend are better than that.)

  
  


The attack happens and Chase is focused on the fight more than his family, they’re safe.Chase does see a familiar green bunny shape as he fights in the skies and when Razzle starts charging her ESD he shouts a warning. She dodges in time; and they report back to Marin. He doesn’t totally hear what she says as he sees Cammie launch the ESD she has into the air fully charged. He spins away from the blast so his jet doesn’t die to the electrical charge. 

When Marin calls the evac he breathes a sigh of relief. He and Razzle are alive and uninjured, but they are one of a few. Even knowing it was happening it was a shock to the system to see the Union attempt their takeover.

Weller comes to Anvil shortly after to introduce both Chase and Leon into the gen:Lock program. Leon declines ‘unsure’ of the process and not willing to chance it. Chase goes for it, a calculated move on their part. Leon wanted to be an ace in the hole for later… just in case. 

Though Leon does get roped into helping the Holon pilots learn how to most effectively use their Holons. As if he and Chase had not been doing that for years in Cameron’s versions of the Holons.

A few years pass and the Union still grows but…

It’s ridiculously slow, any city they take they have to work three times as hard to keep the cities they have. Roman’s little resistance is far more effective than any of them realized. 

“I put a bounty on anyone who supports the Union. So we’ve got not only my people but every other mafia in the country vying to kill them. It’s really effective when your leadership drops like flies the second they step out into the public.” he preens while Neo golf claps behind him, the tiny pink, white and brown woman more a menace than Roman himself.  


Years pass, Weller recruits the others, and Roman rescues Sinclair. Dropping him off with Cameron to get kitted up. His holon is built for speed, larger wheels on it’s heels than the small ones in its feet. He also has a disc he can throw that magnetizes and comes back; it’s armor is in dark greys and greens like a Ranger’s gear. 

“M’am, I think I’m in love.” Sinclair admits to Cameron when he uploads the first time. She gives him a hug, she never got to know her Sinclair. He’d died trying to help, and he deserves way more than what he got.

It’s not the first time she cries because things are going so much better than last time. It’s not the last. 


	2. And on to the future! again

Leon thought Cameron was a bundle of nerves and energy and exhausting. Cammie? The seventeen year old one? Is even worse. So. Much. Energy. Pairing her up with Miranda to work on things outside of the holons so she can be better inside them works amazingly when he suggests they both like this one violent video game that Miranda is no longer allowed to play.

(She’s allowed to play just not with the boys because she’s a beast at mortal kombat 33. And none of them quite get into the same way Miranda does. Cammie is also just as into the game and Leon can only sigh in relief that he’s not getting his ass kicked at the game any more.)

But that’s not all, it’s exhausting trying to keep their secrets. Leon rolls his neck trying to wake up for their next mission. It’s 4 am and they’re taking gen:Lock out for the first time since the attack on the Ether.

Things are going well, why is he worried? 

~~~~~~~

Hours later….

HE SHOULD NOT HAVE TEMPTED FATE.

Leon pulls his Strider into the docking station and presses his forehead against his hands. They’re out of the fire, on their way back to the anvil after not one but four Union holons attacked. Three of them had stayed behind glitching and waiting. If it hadn’t been for Miranda’s quick thinking they would have lost gen:Lock. She’d gunned the engine loud enough the union holons had tried to go after the scientists. Instead they’d contended one on one with the polity mechs and striders unloading to get in the way.

They’re all safe now but it’s worrying, where did the Union get the Four holons. Cameron had only warned them about one! Hell there shouldn’t have been one! Chase was never copied, or if he was he ended up getting a call from his mother on the day of the mission his copy goes missing.(It’s not an actual emergency but it gets him off the field. They don’t do any missions after that.)

The attack on Anvil happens later that day and when Marin comes to him as the others flee he sighs. She wants him to attempt an upload if those Union holons arrive, only one had shown up today and was currently pinned down by several transports and weapons and chains in a cleaned out hangar bay. 

It wasn’t moving and it looked like an extremely spiky version of Cameron’s Kazu’s armor. Like the union had only painted it black and thrown extra spikes. It was such bad taste and speaking of...

“I have something I need to tell you M’am.” Fuck secrecy it nearly got them killed twice today. She deserves to know. 

  
  


Elsewhere in the base; 

Weller is in an out of consciousness, “C’mon doc don’t die on me now.” Cammie is kneeling over him as his eyes blur unable to focus. The blast had thrown him backwards… No- the blast hadn’t come from his EMP. It had come from a union shot nearly hitting him in the head as another  _ Caliban _ ran into the room with three people flanking it.

“W-”

“Doc! Stay with me!” Cameron snaps and  _ now _ he’s invested. She looks so  _ old _ wasn’t she seventeen.He’s got to stay awake to get the answers he wants. He fights the darkness as much as he can; only fading as a doctor takes him away from the weird looking Cameron

“Not gonna get us again.” Cameron tells him pressing a hand to his cheek and Rufus laughs wetly as she’s replaced by the doctors.

  
  


Chase is tired. 

They run to RTASA, where Dr.Jha greets them with Henry Wu and Chase bites back the feeling of bile in his throat as he works with Holcroft. It’s not his feeling, it’s Cameron’s(the older) but he knows what this man is capable of. He knows what Cameron knows.

He knows that the original story, they deal with nemesis, Cameron and her team going back to RTASA and Holcroft offering to continue helping them as long as they rescue someone at this base in the middle of union territory. They do it and the scientist they rescue tries to then get into everyone’s heads on Holcrofts orders. Then when they return to the Anvil Holcroft starts manipulating them and they don’t realize it until they see him working with the Union to capture the gen:Lock team. It took them months to realize and how betrayed they felt, it’s also how her Leon and Sinclair die; helping them escape.

But he doesn’t have much of a choice; they don’t have the resources to repair and upgrade five Holons. It’s not one he wants to make but he pretends to be indifferent while pretending the lack of privacy isn’t annoying.

Holcroft though doesn’t mention anything about his ‘Aunt’ at least. He’ll take it for now.

Hours after that chance meeting He’s staring at Cammie’s work fighting down the sense of deja vu and winning. It looks better than anything Cameron ever showed him, all sleek lines and wings. Oh god, when Migas had put wings on the holon it had been a bit slapdash the armor too bulky for good flying. With this?

Man they’re gonna be unstoppable. This is gonna be awesome!

  
  


He spoke too soon. “Ow.” Chase groans as they download out. They were attacked the second they landed in their holons. And the ONE union mech had kicked their asses, he and Yasamin head for the cockpit. 

“What the hell?! How is he that fast?” Chase snarls as they take off getting out of range of the first Nemesis Holon. None of his weird spiky glitchy friends are nearby and they’re having enough problems with one clone trying to kill them

They’re just out of range when he turns to get back to the Pods and bursts through the doors at Cammie’s scream.

“Cameron!” he shouts and Cameron is pushing Cammie away already typing,taking over whatever the younger woman was doing “Julian. Tell your friends to stop screaming.”

“Don’t worry guys, this is my uh Aunt? Cameron. She’s a Cammie from the future and she’s cool.”

“And I’m downloading upgrades to your holons. Sinclair and Leon are already dealing with the Union Holons. I’ll be downloading to help as soon as I have this done.” she explains while she types. Caliban(the one who followed Cameron from the other timeline) is setting up another pod. 

This time it’s going to be different.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Chase flies back with Yaz with enough time to see Leon’s arm nearly ripped off; he tackles the Nemesis mech and regrets it as he gets thrown off course by a wave of nano-tech. Sinclair’s discs cut off the nano letting him escape. 

He reaches out for the others and he feels Cammie on one side and Yaz on the other and then it’s… them. All of them. At once; it doesn’t feel anything like he had with Leon or Cameron. But it’s good and better. 

All of them fighting together take out the Union mech, but instead of killing it. They pry out the inner casing, and the Cyberbrain. He gently hands it to Cameron who nearly cries in her Holon as she handles what may be the last of her own version of Julian.

  
  


They load everything up and are connected to the Polity, Leon had gotten Marin and Weller up to date once the doctor was stable. But with Cameron finally coming out of the shadows, there's a lot of loose ends. 

  
  


Marin nodded, “We’ll work out the logistics of you going after the Union holons. As long as the Union has those things we’re going to start losing more ground than ever despite this victory.” She stands a little taller her hologram flickering as the sun set in the background. 

  
“Make no mistake; today was a victory. We have a long way to go and one day we’ll be able to be free of the Union’s plague. And this time we’ll bring as many people as we can back home.”

With that Marin disappeared, Weller looks to the Older Cameron who is not able to download any more. She’d known that going in, uploading in her forties wasn’t the best idea but she’d wanted to help her Julian. 

Her Holon is curled around the Cyberbrain of the Nemesis mech and she’s mixed out. “I’m not sorry for keeping this from most of you.” She starts and Weller shakes his head. 

“I just- how did you get all this done?” He asks looking up at the Mechs Cameron had designed. Cammie’s practically vibrating wanting to get a better look. 

“Well I think that’s my cue to leave.” Roman turns and Neo grabs him by the ear and drags him back. He’d come out only to make sure Leon was alright; since Leon was uploaded and in a Polity Carrier. Roman was currently sitting on his younger brother’s foot; his partner Neo however had other ideas.

“Remind me to high five you when I get out of here.” Leon tells her and she gives him a thumbs up with her free hand. 

“A lot of hard work.” She facepalms as Roman and Neo start trying to wrestle and Leon literally pulls them apart. (It’s the only time he’s ever going to get away with it too, and Leon knows it.) “I’ll tell you everything I swear, I just-” her holon pulls the cyberbrain closer.

“I want to help him if I can.” the rest of the team nod with her. 

Weller nods, “We will, I’ll see you all at home then?” He asks and The team nods. 

  
It’s not perfect, they still have four more Union Holons to save. But it’s a start, and it’s already a good one. 

He can’t wait to start the rest of his life. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I know Cammie could have gone to Weller. I have six different rough drafts that end up this way. I just liked this version better by the time I made it to this version? 
> 
> Leon's Holon is basically Mesa from Warframe in Strider colors. Sinclair is based off Gogo from Big Hero 6. 
> 
> I'm just so glad I'm done this fic, I have ten separate documents for this particular one and they all are different from each other; it was driving me insane. 
> 
> And I apologize for the barely appearing Yaz, Kazu and Val/entina in this fic. Hopefully my next fic for this fandom has more of them in it.

**Author's Note:**

> This has given me SO MUCH TROUBLE, but it's done and I'm done with it. I have so many footnotes and they'll be in the second chapter footnotes.
> 
> Also yes I stole Roman Torchwick and Neo and made them Leon's family, because I can and Roman and Leon have the same Voice actor it works.


End file.
